Monday, February 21, 2011

How sex Swami Nithyananda was viewed by Indian media

On March 04, 2010, Aaj Tak reported, “In yet another shocking incident, a godman Swami Nityananda has been found involved in a sex scandal after a local news channel released visuals showing him in a compromising position with a film actress. Some days before, another self-styled godman was arrested for running sex racket in Delhi.”

The updates from various sources follow:

The actress in question is Ranjitha, whose sex tapes found their way to the mainstream media and the internet. Soon it was to be followed by more and more spicy stuff involving many other women, and names of actresses such as Yuvarani, Devayani, etc. were associated with the sex guru’s spiritual adventures. The highly literate, religious and god-fearing people of South India were shocked to hear what the swami has been doing all the time. They attacked his Ashrams and burned his photos and effigies.

In the meanwhile, Lenin Karuppan, a one-time associate and driver of the sex-tainted guru, who videotaped the steamy adventures of the swami, claimed that he was contacted by Nithyananda with offers such as promoting him as a junior godman and appointing him as one of the branches of his organization Dhyanapeetham, which is claimed to have 33 branches worldwide, including in the United States. Karuppan, it is reported, has declined the offer as ‘his life is under threat’.

In a bizarre twist of events, as it happens with such fake gurus, Douglas McKellor, an American national and once a disciple of Swami Nityananda, has registered a case with California State Attorney General against the godman. In his complaint, McKellor has accused Nityananda of sexually exploiting the devotees at the ashram, fraud and financial irregularities.

McKeller, a resident of San Jose, California, was influenced by the swami in 2007, and he changed his name to Swami Nityaprabha and later became the head of the California branch of Dhyanapeetham.

In his complaint Douglas McKellor said, "I was in the first batch that enrolled for Nityananda's week-long instant enlightenment program. It was held at the Los Angeles ashram in June 2007, where I paid swami a fee of $400,000 for the workshop and the enlightenment certificate… During the workshop, I felt abnormally lightheaded. It was like as if some strange drug was causing me lose all my senses… Nityananda performed some fire rituals and asked us to cut a strand of our hair. Then, he put the hair in fire along with something that looked like marijuana seeds. After the workshop, he issued certificates to everyone claiming that we had attained enlightenment."

McKeller has also accused Nityananda of sexually exploiting his American devotees. "Nityananda was fond of pretty girls. While he was at Sanatan Dharma temple in Norwalk, California, for a two-day workshop on spirituality, he asked me to stand outside the door to ensure no one disturbed him, while he was with female guests," he said in his complaint.

Nityananda was reportedly fond of striptease parties with pretty young girls, according to McKellor, who added that ‘Nityananda used to eat his meals and rest with young girls in his private quarters at the cult organization’s Norwalk and Montclair ashrams. The swami had named attractive girls 'flowers' and used to say that they are a must item for his puja’.

“While he was at Sanatan Dharma temple in Norwalk, California, for a two-day workshop on spirituality, he asked me to stand outside the door to ensure no one disturbed him, while he was with female guests,” Douglas McKellor said in his complaint.

Meanwhile there are reported that the 32-year-old sex-maniac swami has resigned as head of his organization and all its branches as he wanted to ‘pursue his spiritual quest in silence’.